10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham."

- Genesis 17:1-22

You know, a lot of people laugh at God. We read here in Genesis chapter 17 about Abraham, and how God promised Abraham that he would give him a son named Isaac, and that through Isaac, the nation of Israel would be born and would possess the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.

God very plainly explained to Abraham that he is the Almighty God, which means that God is able to do absolutely anything, and that with God, all things are possible. Since God is almighty, that means is he is all powerful, and that nothing is impossible with God.

Yet, we read in verse 17, that Abraham laughed and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?"

The question that comes to my mind is this: If Abraham had Almighty God standing right there in front of him, telling him that he was going to give him and Sarah a son, why would he laugh?

Abraham is one of the greatest names mentioned in the Great Hall of Faith, in Hebrews chapter 11. And Paul goes on to mention him in Romans chapter 4, saying, "17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:

20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." - Romans 4:17-21

Here we see that Abraham is noted as being a man who was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that, what God had promised, he was able also to perform.

Abraham had a lot of faith in what God told him in regards to the promise. Yet, we see that Abraham laughed.

Did you know that we are living in a time where people laugh at God? They laugh at what he says. They laugh at his words. They laugh at his power. They laugh at his ability. On and on, people laugh at God.

My friend, God is no laughing matter. Laughing at God is a sin.

They may laugh now, but Jesus said, "Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep." - Luke 6:25

It's no secret. People have a good ol' time poking fun at their Maker. They think he doesn't exist. Or they think he's too ridiculous to be believed. Or perhaps the mockers of God simply hate God to the point that they don't care either way.

We see that was the case in Matthew chapter 27, "27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.

28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.

29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!

30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.

31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him."

The soldiers that crucified Jesus could have cared less about who he was. They could have cared less about the fact that Jesus had just healed two blind men 7 chapters earlier. They could have cared less that Jesus was violently taken away from his friends, or that he was betrayed by his close friend, or that he was so poor, that he often had to sleep in a fisherman's boat with a pillow. And they certainly didn't care that Jesus loved those soldiers so much to the point that he going to die for them.

But notice that the soldiers mocked Jesus. There are people today who mock God, and laugh at him. They do it because they don't care about him. They perhaps do it because their life is at ease. They perhaps do not have a care in the world. They have money. They have good health. They have their families. Bad circumstances do not come to them. They are well fed, and well clothed.

It's easy to laugh at God when life is going good.

Statistics show that well-to-do countries normally are more non-religious.

But many of these countries started out as a religious state. Take for example the United States.

According to the United Nations Statistics Division, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, the United States ranks number 1 as the richest nation on earth by both nominal Gross Domestic Product, and Gross National Product. The U.S. is also sixth highest in the world for per capita income, according to the IMF.

Note that the U.S. did not start out atheist. In fact, our country had a great heritage steeped in religion. And we are not talking about superstitious, idol worshipping, religion. We are talking about the one true religion that is the hope of all nations, the religion of Jesus Christ.

John Adams, one of the signers of the Constitution wrote this:

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. ... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." - John Adams, "The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States", Vol. IX, p 229, October 11, 1798, Charles Francis Adams, editor, (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854)

Fisher Ames author of the final wording for the First Amendment wrote,

"[Why] should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the Sacred Book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind."

But here, now, we see a different America, slipping into last place among all the nations, heading in the direction of being the poorest country on earth, with a staggering $15.85 trillion debt.

The Bible says, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." - Proverbs 22:7

We are going to be slaves to those who have lent us money.

And why is that?

The answer is simple. We have forsaken the Lord. When prosperity comes to a nation, then also comes a great forsaking of God.

"According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me." - Hosea 13:6

When God blesses a nation greatly, they often will forget the God who blessed them. Then when they forget God, that nation becomes greatly cursed. So was the case with Israel. They were greatly blessed by God in the days of the Old Testament, but when they were greatly blessed, they forgot God, and forsook him. It was not soon after that they were greatly destroyed for their sins.

Likewise, we also read in Proverbs that riches often corrupt a person to the point of causing him to laugh God:

There is a day coming when the laughing at God will cease. The prosperity will end. And the riches will fly away. Death will come. And it will not be merciful to the transgressors, to the mockers, to the haters of God. Death comes to all. Their foot shall slide in due time because as Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." - Luke 13:5